Mets Game 109: Loss to Marlins
Marlins 7 Mets 3
For the second consecutive game, the Mets came back in the ninth inning to tie the ballgame, thanks to a homerun off of the opposing team’s closer. And for the second consecutive game, they couldn’t convert that momentum shift into a victory.
Mets Game Notes
I was all ready to write this post tabbing Lucas Duda as the hero. If you’ve been following here for a while you know I keep suggesting that he’ll do something “big”, and in this game he did. Marlins closer Leo Nunez gave Lucas a 96-MPH, waist-high fastball over the middle of the plate (it looked like something Bobby Parnell might serve up) and Duda made him pay for the mistake, sending the pitch into orbit. OK, maybe not orbit, but it did wind up over the centerfield fence — and in a hurry. But then Jason Isringhausen came on in the top of the tenth to give up a grand slam and ruin everything. Oh well.
So, one of the supposed reasons that the Mets didn’t trade Izzy was so he could mentor Parnell and Pedro Beato. I hope they were passing notes in the classroom and daydreaming instead of paying attention to this lesson.
Mike Pelfrey didn’t pitch poorly, but like Jon Niese a day before him, he didn’t pitch all that great, either. You know how some people say “he pitched well enough to lose” ? Well, Pelfrey pitched well enough for a no-decision. He allowed only 3 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks in a 6-inning stint, but he labored and seemed uncomfortable. The Fish had a baserunner in every one of his innings.
Izzy’s bed-crapping also erased the nice relief work of Ryota Igarashi and Manny Acosta, who combined for three innings of scoreless relief and 5 strikeouts. Acosta, sporting a new ‘doo that made me think of Nino Espinosa, was perfect in his two frames.
On the bright side, Jason Bay went yard — and did it in one of the deepest parts of Citi Cavern, right-center field. So he’s still capable of hitting bombs, he just needs to do it a bit more frequently.
The Mets made a few boo-boos during the game, a few of which were difference-makers in regard to winning or losing the game. For instance, there was Jose Reyes being sent home on a shallow base-hit to right field and getting thrown out by Mike Stanton by 20 feet. He made Stanton look like Dave Parker — which isn’t too difficult when you’re standing about 130 feet from home plate and have a running start. And then there was Dan Murphy fouling up a rundown in the tenth inning that led to the bases-loaded situation. Granted, it was a difficult play for someone who doesn’t have much experience at first base. But this is the problem: Murphy doesn’t have much experience anywhere, except in a batter’s box. It’s really not fair to Murphy, and the remarkable thing is he keeps getting caught in these difficult and glaring situations — it’s as if bad luck is following him. Like Murphy’s Law or something.
Angel Pagan got away with a really numnut move in the bottom of the ninth, when he decided to stretch a single into a double and should’ve been thrown out. He made it, thankfully, setting up Duda’s heroics. But when you are two runs down, it doesn’t make sense to be reckless in your effort to get into scoring position — it was a risk not worth taking. This is why the Mets are a .500 team — because they are reckless as opposed to aggressive (there is a fine line between the two) and their fundamentals overall are lacking. If they had five guys in the lineup who hit bombs, they could get away with little things like this. But they are built in such a way that there is little margin for error — be it physical or mental.
Gaby Sanchez was 2-for-3 with 2 RBI and a run scored, in case you were wondering. He’s like the Wilson Ramos of the Marlins.
Next Mets Game
The Mets and Marlins do it again at 7:10 PM in Flushing on Tuesday night. Chris Capuano goes to the hill against Brad Hand.
Also good points on the lack of fundamentals. Yes, some of these things should have been taught (and learned) back in middle school or little league.
It bothered me to the extent that I shut the TV off, feeling that negative baseball karma kicking in.
Glad I didn’t sit through this one – might’ve tossed a Rawlings thru the Samsung.
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On a good note, nice to see Duda taking Nunez yard, again.
Will someone pitch high & tight to Sanchez & Stanton, pleeezzz!!!
The other problem is the receiving style of the two Mets catchers — they are not great at holding strikes as strikes and they sometimes try to “frame” pitches. Framing looks great from the centerfield camera, doesn’t look great from the umpire’s view. Yet, every MLB catcher frames and every catcher is taught to frame. Why? Ignorance. The best plan is to catch the ball when it’s a strike and hold it there — not try to jerk it a few inches toward the middle of the plate. More strikes are lost because of “framing” than are gained.
I think that the current front office will recognize that both players have major warts in their games; and unless absolutely nothing comes down the pike in terms of replacements — both will be shopped during the off-season.
Hopefully, Alderson will be able to fool someone in the AL into taking Murphy. Pagan’s got great ability; but time and time again shows – he’s gonna wind up hurting us in crucial spots with flat-out stupid blunders….not like he’s 25 anymore. As Met fans love to point out about other players around the league, “he’s on the wrong side of 30” now.
This is why it was an immediate red flag when people began touting lines like “I’m Daniel Murphy, and I bat third” – as if they were badges of honor…..or positives.
I know I like my players to actually have defensive positions, not sure about anyone else.
Reyes made an error. Wright AGAIN made a bad throw that cost a run. The third base coach cost the team a run (probably) by sending a runner (there was one out; after forcing a second, Murphy hit a fly ball that Reyes might have scored on). Pagan’s questionable baserunning.
The above was a two run swing and Pagan could have cost them more. It is distasteful that the Mets can’t beat the Marlins and Nats in these games. Two runs scored in two games vs. Nats and now this mess. The Mets will have a lousy August if they keep this b.s. up.
Pelfrey’s start was nothing to write home about but particularly given he was hurt by Wright’s error [making them not scoring fairly unlikely], him giving you two earned in six is not bad. He fought through and given his inability to that in other games, it was somewhat commendable on that level.
I think that an everyday 1B can be a liability on the basepaths and not be a great power hitter as long as he can hit .300+ AND give the team solid to excellent defense. Mark Grace comes to mind, as does Rafael Palmeiro before the steroids, Sid Bream (though he’s a step down offensively), Doug Mientkiewicz (before he turned 30), and more recently Casey Kotchman and James Loney. But all of those guys have/had great gloves. Maybe if the Mets committed to making Murphy a first baseman, he could develop defensively, but it’s getting late in his career for that and there is the matter of Ike Davis.
I think he can be his Roger Ramjet self on some other team at 1st Base too (or some place else) and the team should be able to get a useful piece or two for him. We shall see.
I have to agree with you on Thole. He has no balance in his stance and as a result his receiving mechanics are poor. And I’ve been talking about his for two years now and not much has changed, because the way the Mets have him set up back there he has to rely almost exclusively on his god-given athleticism — which isn’t bad, but isn’t at the level of, say, Jerry Grote.
Not awful. Thatās 2/3 of the game, sometimes more when away and losing.
who aims the ball
True, usually near the white pentagon some twenty yards from the white rectangle: presumably on the advice of Daniel Warthen.
, amd [sic, unless you mean Advanced Micro Devices, in which case this clause of the sentence is accurate] canāt pitch to contact.
You must mean he misses a lot of bats. [checks Mike Pelfreyās K%] LIAR!
What 3rd base is going to stop reyes from trying to score from 2nd on a single?
I donāt know Gary. In my day, 3rd bases were taught to just lie there and try not to interfere with any play, save for the occasional grounder up the line. Haha, first and third bases have always gotten a kick out of wreaking havoc on those.
Stanton just made a great throw.
Oh that Mike Stanton, always making great throws when just plain decent, or even substandard, throws wouldāve accomplished the same job.
Iāve commented before,
Me too!! a/s/l?
that murphy is a modern day marvelous marv throneberry.
All those legions of fans wearing āLeinadā shirts.
Last night just proved my point.He was born to DH.
Its funny, I always have this debate with my colleagues: one space or two after punctuation?
Hopefully thatās what he will be doing next year.
OMG, you think Selig will let the Mets do that?
Right now, too many players are making mistakes.Murphy and Pagan have a lot of company.
I agree, lot of mistakes. So maybe this is an ironic post?
Did any one notice besides me that when thole came into game in the 10th, it seemed like he dropped or missed every other pitch.
Just you, but I bet you have on of those high-definition television boxes. All I saw was the occasional glimpse of intertwined bodies between fuzzy lines. (I swear dad, Iām watching the game!).
I wonder if that threw off Izzyās timing?
Definitely, I wonder if we can ask the official scorekeeper to give Thole the loss?
Nobody talks much about thole, but he is horrible behind the dish.
Hmm, thole, tholeā¦nope, not ringing a bell.
Canāt fault Pelfrey for not wanting to pitch to him
Srsly, but between Thole and contact, Pelf is running out of things that he canāt pitch to.
[sorry Gary, I donāt like losing streaks.]